Some time ago I heard a lady say, “almost everything is racist”! To me, the answer to that would be something like “What do you expect when you see everything as being racial?” or “What do expect when you have turned race and skin color into a religion?”
It was in the 1990’s that I began to notice this strange phenomenon in people. I first noticed it in black people. I think that I first became aware of it when I found myself saying, “I’d hate to be like some black people. I’d hate to have my life revolve around race” as many of them made it out as if race was all that mattered in life. Looking back on it now this seems to be my first awareness of a “problem”, of an unhealthy obsession with race. There seems, particularly, to be an unhealthy and ridiculous obsession over skin color as if it were the determining factor in associations between people. Sometimes, it seemed that some people were making out race as something like a religion. I noted it then but didn’t look into it that much as I saw examples of its only sporadically and it didn’t interest me at the time.
It wasn’t until the past some odd years where all this BLM and DEI stuff brought out a number of things that made it easier to see. Many good examples of these claims can be seen in this article: Thoughts on “race-obsession” and “race-fixation”. If one looks closely one can see that many of these claims are ridiculous, absurd, asinine, and even insane. It becomes clear, and quite obvious, that there is something else behind all this and that it is different from what they are saying it is. Several things can be seen:
- That many claims have origins in a specific world view and way of looking at life
- That many claims are false and even fabricated
- That many claims are a result of mental problems or mental issues, such as insecurity or paranoia
- That many claims are motivated out of hatred
- That many claims are motivated by the belief that they should receive special privilege or as a means to gain some advantage
In other words, the claims are not reflective of the “oppressed people” line of thought as they portrayed. In fact, the more I look at it the less and less proof I see of this line of thought. There’s something else going on. To put it another way, its obvious that this obsession over race has another side to it that isn’t being mentioned. As I have watched it through the years I can see another aspect to this issue, of a problem that is not mentioned. As it appears to me there has developed what appears to be an obsession over race that is now causing many mental “issues” and problems.
I have seen many problems that happen between different types of people, and I have never seen anything like this nor on the scale of this. The Jews, for example, have had centuries of problems and there was even an attempt at their extermination, and they don’t act anything like this. I have never seen any group of people who made one thing so dominant in their life. At times, it seems unreal, almost fantastic. There is most certainly something unique about it. Because of this, it has made me look into it more.
I would not describe myself as all-knowing about this subject but below I shall try to explain how things appear to me at this time and describe some observations I have made. I should point out that I see this as a matter of psychology and that this is the point of view I am looking at it. In other words, I’m looking at this from the perspective of a psychologist.
There seems to very two versions of the obsession with race and the problems it causes:
- It is particularly prevalent in the black people in the US, but other non-white people can develop it as well
- It seems to afflict some liberal-minded people, usually white, though it is somewhat different with more emphasis on politics
The article below is more about what I have observed in black people, at least so far.
SOME DEFINITIONS
There are some definitions that need to be explained:
- One-word philosophy – This refers to using one word to explain everything.
- Race-obsession – This refers to the repetitive use of the word “race” as an explanation for everything.
- Race-infiltration – This is the effects of race-obsession, when race starts to be seen in everything in life.
- Race-fixation – This is when race-infiltration starts to cause mental problems.
Many of these attitudes would be entrenched in people’s minds with “woke”, BLM, and DEI.
ONE-WORD PHILOSOPHY
The basic problem is using one-word to explain everything – which I often call the “one-word philosophy” – and its psychological effects. In this case, the word is race. It is used for everything, to explain every scenario, every happening, every event, etc. as well as to explain all their problems in history. I’ve described aspects of this in my article It’s all about race . . . again – thoughts on “the great blunder”, using one word to explain historical and social events and its effects.
The use of one-word causes several effects:
- The act of using one-word becomes a fixation or a pit they can’t get out of. Here it’s not the meaning of the word that matters. It is the act of consistently using it.
- The specific qualities that surround the specific word bring out “issues” associated with that word. In the case of “race” it brings out problems associated with problems between people, slavery, culture clash, and such.
These give different effects in race-fixation creating different types. It seems that there are three different character types that are created:
- A character that develops a fixation because of the overuse of one word . . . the meaning of the word doesn’t necessarily mean much. It is often not emotional and is more “mechanical”. They often “can’t get it out of their head”. This, it seems, is prevalent in males.
- A character that becomes engrossed with the “issues” associated with the word. Often, it is more emotional. They tend to have emotional problems. This, it seems, is prevalent in females.
- A mixture of the above. Often, they alternate between the two or mix them up.
In some sense, they become a slave to this one word. It dominates their world.
RACE-INFILTRATION
The basic phenomenon of this problem is the persistent use of one-word infiltrates that word into everything like a disease. I call this race-infiltration. It starts to affect the world, all that happens, people around them, and themselves. The use of one word to explain everything creates an overall perspective of life that is distorted. It causes a tendency where it begins to affect everything, and they see it in everything. They have to. It’s the only explanation they have. It infiltrates things such as:
- How they view society (such as “society is racist”)
- How they view people (such as “people are racist”)
- How they associate with people (such as “people treat me a specific way because of their race”)
- How they interpret people’s motives and actions (such as “people do things because they are racist”)
- How they view themselves (such as “everyone hates me because of my race”)
- How they view their health (such as” racism causes physical problems”)
- How they view their surroundings (such as” racism effects where they live”)
- How they view history (such as “a lot of historical events are motivated by racism”)
When it is bad it can infiltrate most or all of these. When this happens, it has infiltrated almost every aspect of life. They now see it everywhere and in everything.
RACE-FIXATION
When people develop a point of view where race infiltrates everything, and they start to see it everywhere and in everything, it starts plays with people’s minds. If it is extensive then it starts to affect their mental state. What ends up happening is that using “race” as a basis to look at the world – race-infiltration – often ends up creating mental problems. I call this race-fixation. I tend to think that this problem us quite extensive and it could even be a major problem perhaps even a crisis in some areas.
What ends up happening is that they became focused on it, fixated, to such an extent that it starts to erode the self and a perception of who they are, and their perception of the world. It starts to eat away at them. This causes many of the problems described to appear . . .
THE MAIN EFFECTS OF RACE-FIXATION
Once race-fixation gets established it seems to cause various mental problems (more info can be found in this article: Thoughts on “race-obsession” and “race-fixation”). From what I have seen I would say that there are two main effects:
- A paranoia
- A victim mentality
1-A paranoia
Often, they start to feel that white people are plotting against them in some way. Listening to this over the years I think it is obvious that a lot of this is paranoia. What it does, of course, is make them feel threatened all the time. I’ve even heard cases where this can get to the point that they are almost afraid to leave their homes.
The paranoia also intensifies if anything happens that supports their fear. For example, if the police arrest or do something against a black person. I’ve seen some people who practically panic over this.
In some cases, they even start thinking that there is a conspiracy against them, as if white people have some organized effort against them. To be frank, after watching it all these years I consider the idea of “racism” as a form of “conspiracy theory”. The “conspirators” include:
- White people
- Police
- The government
- Anyone, or anything, that isn’t black
In some cases, the paranoia can get so bad that they actually believe the whole world is against them. Since the whole world is against them they see threats “everywhere”. That is to say, it is “all around them”. This causes many people to emphasize what they often call “space” which is the environment they are in, their surroundings. Really, this is a reference to “threatening space” and is a paranoid threat which, we must remember, is “everywhere”. I’ve heard some people speak of “white space” which, of course, is threatening. Some people will therefore emphasize the need for their “space” which, of course, is non-threatening and devoid of their paranoid feelings. In other words, the quest to find their “space” is at attempt at getting away from their paranoid feelings.
2-A victim mentality
Often, all the above causes a victim mentality. In some sense, they become a “victim of their own mentality”. Their logic turns them into victims. Seeing racism in everything it surrounds them and effects everything they do turning them into victims.
There are two forms of “victimhood” that develop:
- The people-as-a-victim – This is seeing themselves, as a people, as victims.
- The person-as-a-victim – This is seeing themselves, as a person, as a victim.
Sometimes, this “victimhood” can create a sense of unity in some people, they are “united in their victimhood”. Because of this, they are often not willing to let go of their victimhood.
FURTHER EFFECTS OF RACE-FIXATION
The two main effects of race-fixation often cause other problems such as:
- Anxiety
- Oversensitivity
- Low self-esteem
- Alienation
- Depression
- Feeling squashed
- Anger
- Pig-headedness
- Hate-filled
- Helplessness
- Arrogance
Anxiety
Paranoia makes them feel threatened even when nothing is happening and there is no cause for it. The persistence of this causes many people to feel anxious. For some people this can get bad even to the point of being impairing.
Oversensitivity
Their anxiety often makes them very oversensitive of things. This can get so bad that subtle “slights” bother them. Some even get so sensitive that they speak of “microaggressions” and “unconscious racist tendencies” that bother them. I’ve heard some say that this was “traumatic”. In all my life I have never seen such oversensitivity!
Low self-esteem
Its not uncommon that they start to have self-esteem problems. There seems a number of causes for this:
- They start to have bad feelings about themselves because they believe that people hate them because of their race
- Because anxiety bears down on them so much that it makes them feel bad about themselves
- Because they develop a victim mentality
Alienation
Since they feel that everyone is against them they becomes disconnected from people. This may get to the point that they don’t associate with people. It also makes them feel different from other people. In some cases, they feel that they aren’t understood by anyone and white people, especially, don’t understand them and their problems. They often will use expressions like “lived black experience” which, of course, only they can know. No one else could possibly know. This is a good example of how they use their “separateness” as a defense against people.
Depression
This persistent attitude starts to weigh down on a person causing a person to feel down and depressed. It can cause them to lose interest in life and withdraw inward.
Feeling squashed
From what I have seen, this problem often creates a type of condition where people feel as if they are “squashed” by it. This is often interpreted, by many people, as being “oppressed”, discriminated against, and so on. Its often used to support their claim of being victims. But what they are really seeing is the effects of their own mentality and how it overwhelms them.
Anger
Some people start to develop problems with anger. Sometimes, this can be revengeful as if they are trying to get back at the world, or “white people”, for every little problem. There are some people who get mad over every little problem, every “slight”, and such.
Pig-headedness
Because they are so fixated on race they can so no other explanation. This creates a horrible pig-headedness and an inability to see other options, points of views, and realities. I’ve seen some people whose only point is to say, “you’re racist” and that’s it. Its like their only statement in life and their only statement to people. This pig-headedness as if “locks” them into their thinking and they often can’t get out of it.
Hate-filled
Since a lot of this point of view is based on the idea that people hate people of other races its natural that the idea of hatred figures much in their mentality. It seems that this often causes a tendency for them to become filled with hatred. In other words, they begin to hate because they are obsessed with a philosophy that is based in hatred. Sometimes, this hatred can dominate them and they struggle with it.
Helplessness
In many ways, race-fixation is when a person is helpless to an obsession. This is a type of helplessness. Its no surprise that helplessness is a common feeling.
Arrogance
Many of the problems caused by race-fixation causes a tendency, in some people, to counter react its effects by becoming arrogant. Sometimes, they will ascribe to themselves, or black people, great importance and value often exaggerating their importance or influence.
EXPLAINING THEIR PROBLEMS
Race-fixation infiltrates everything to the point that it even gets used in explaining the problems they have. If they have a “mental problem” it is caused by, surprise! surprise!, racism. The result is that they become entrenched further in being victims of racism. In this way, they get further entrenched in it. In a way, it makes it even worse.
EXAMPLES
Here are some examples of what this mentality does to people:
See this article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/people-who-have-woke-opinions-are-more-likely-to-be-depressed-and-anxious-study-suggests/ar-BB1k7fdn?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=ed5c39af83004aaabb2dd97a0ed6b45a&ei=16 and https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/wokeness-is-linked-to-unhappiness-anxiety-and-depression-study-finds/ss-BB1kaNr0?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=ada65fbddcb640e0b7a54737c47bf4d2&ei=8#image=3.
- It says, “Those who agreed with ‘woke’ ideas were more likely to be anxious or depressed”.
- It says, “Additionally, they were not as happy as those who did not agree with these statements.”
This is not surprising. It is describing effects caused by race-fixation. What do you expect when people see threats and evil everywhere?
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- It says, “Our education system has moved away from cultivating critical thinking skills and knowledge, to indoctrinating and training activists through various DEI initiatives. For example, students are regularly subjected to narratives steeped in anti-American sentiment.”
- It says, “Climate change is framed as “climate justice,” and students are told that humanity will perish in a climate apocalypse for which they bear responsibility. While previous generations were encouraged to view the future as full of opportunities, today’s youth are bombarded with the doom and gloom of their carbon footprint. How could they not feel depressed and anxious?”
- It says, “If division and fear weren’t enough, woke education diminishes self-worth and purpose, which are essential to mental health, as schools routinely lower standards in the name of equity.”
- It says, “we first need to recognize that curricula based on woke ideology contribute to fear, anxiety, and division. Our curriculums must focus on knowledge over indoctrination.”
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See this article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/when-living-the-black-american-experience-causes-sleep-loss-and-other-mental-health-struggles-plus-the-resources-that-can-help/ar-BB1iFBb4?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=ffbec301de464c3c92c8bc4cbbc41851&ei=13#comments. A lot of this appears to be “finding problems” in things, taking every problem to worry over. Some examples:
- It says, “Under the guise of ‘grind culture,’ depression, anxiety, and burnout are skyrocketing in the Black community,” Do you think that the ‘grind culture’ affects other people to?
- It says, “Capitalistic structures exploit Black bodies for labor while dismissing Black humanity.” Is that supposed to refer to slavery . . . but slavery doesn’t exist anymore.
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See this article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/what-high-functioning-anxiety-feels-like-when-you-re-a-racial-minority/ar-AA19SDN5?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=3d33c9721cbf485d9023627c135e246d&ei=38. Frankly, a lot of people can complain about similar things, and in many different ways. I can describe similar things as I used to have anxiety too. I could complain about how I felt “small” at the University as well. Of course, I didn’t ascribe it to racism but to other things.
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See this article: America’s woke education is fueling the mental health crisis (msn.com). It states: “The emphasis on wokeism in education combined with the decline of traditional values is fueling the mental health crisis among young people, leading to increased anxiety, depression and unhappiness. If we do not change course quickly, we’ll lose this generation to hopelessness and despair.”
PREDISPOSITIONS
It seems that there are a number of things that predispose black people to this phenomenon:
- Religion
- Politics
- Liberalism
- African culture
- Culture clash
- Racism
Religion
It seems, to me, that Christianity helped cause the “worship of victimhood” and gave it a “refuge” quality. It’s very possible that religion is what made victimhood so powerful. By being a victim, they become like Jesus. They are “saved”. This point of view would be taught to them at church, which was particularly prevalent with the older generations. This created an attitude that makes any victimhood appealing and a source of refuge.
Politics
It appears that the use of American politics justified the erosion of the self and the victim mentality it creates. I tend to believe that this problem is largely a result of the using American politics to justify their “victimhood”. This gives it an “official American stamp of authority”, and this gives it great power and influence. If it were not for the use of politics a lot of these problems would probably evaporate.
Much of the politics seems to come from the Civil Rights Movement. This means, more or less, that race-fixation is an effect of the Civil Rights Movement. I think it is more accurate to say that it started a ball moving that snowballed as the years went by slowly evolving into race-fixation.
Many people will use the Civil Rights Movements as “justification” for their victimhood: they were slaves, they were oppressed, etc. They use it as a means of power. In this way, the use of politics only further entrenches them in victimhood and subsequently, in the use of the one word – race – to explain everything. Some people have so entrenched themselves so much in politics that they can’t get out of it. They’ve literally made a life out of it.
Liberalism
It seems, to me, that race-fixation rests on liberal thinking. In some respects, one could say that race-fixation rides the wave of liberalism. Without liberalism much of this point of view would collapse. This is one of the reasons why non-liberal people tend to not believe their claims. As a result, the prevalence of liberalism tends to make race-fixation more prevalent.
African culture
I have suspicions that African culture somehow predisposes them to this phenomenon. This might be one of the reasons why they only they seem to be affected by this as I don’t see this happening to any other group, however bad they have been treated. Unfortunately, I am not that familiar with African culture to say with any definiteness, but I can see similarities of mentalities with some people in Africa. These include:
- An absence of authority, organization, or unity.
- A general attitude of expecting things to be given to them.
- A “distance stance”, of being removed from different people. They as if don’t know what to do around different people.
- A simple-mindedness.
I can see how these can lead to a predisposition to the one-word philosophy and race-fixation in ways such as these:
- The one word becomes their authority and unity
- The one word answers all their problems
- The one word gives them a “distance stance” with other people
- The one word is a simple explanation
Culture clash
It has always seemed obvious, to me, that many black people feel alienated in “white society” (and they would feel that same way in any other society as well: oriental, middle eastern, etc.). I have always viewed this more as a culture clash. But with the one-word philosophy they keep saying its “racism” which I don’t really believe it is.
As it appears to me, there is a greater culture clash behind this than people think. People can’t see it as its hidden behind all the racial stuff. Black people have a lot more “African ways” than people realize. I can see it when I am around them. Their points of views, their beliefs, their dress, and even their movements, all reveal another culture though they may “seem to be” Americanized. I would say that many black people are, in actuality, not Americanized which is part of their problem. It would be like Middle Eastern people coming to American and trying to live without being Americanized. What do you think is going to happen? They’re going to have problems such as:
- They aren’t going to fit in
- They aren’t going to be accepted
- They are going to be treated different because they are different
- They may feel that society is against them
Many black people have similar problems. In many ways, many black people are actually having common problems that immigrants have, coming to a society they can’t relate to.
Racism
Personally, I think that there are a lot of black people that are racist. This is usually hidden behind accusations that other people are racist which makes them not appear to be racist. But, yet, they are the ones who are continually speaking of “race” and displaying hatred of other races. I’ve seen no other group do this. The sad fact is that I’ve seen more hatred and dislike of other people from black people more than from any other group of people.
A DILEMMA – BEING TRAPPED IN ONES MENTALITY
Race-fixation, being so fixated on race and often of a paranoid nature, makes it difficult to determine if any claims are true or false. They, of course, believe it. They have to. Their explanation is the only one they know and accept. Because of this, they see no other possible explanation. As a result, they will maintain its truth regardless.
This ends up making the claims of many black people something that can’t really be relied upon. Its all the same thing, over and over, again and again! I already know what they are going to say before they even speak. Its because of this that every time I hear a person use the word “race” I doubt their validity. This fact makes it so that a person has no choice but to find another way to substantiate their claim that is independent of them. What ends up happening, though, is that an independent investigation tends to give other answers that generally have nothing whatsoever to do with race or their claims. Of course, this is not what many black people want to hear. And their explanation of why people would see it differently or give another explanation that does not involve race? What do you think? Its racism!
It seems, to me, that this inability to see any other explanation basically traps many black people, and anyone else who has similar points of view, in their “problem”. How can they possibly get out? This creates something of a dilemma. Basically, race-fixation traps them in their problem, and they have no way of getting out. This being trapped in their own mentality is one of the hallmarks of this problems and seems to be one of the reasons why it’s hard to get rid of and overcome.
Copyright by Mike Michelsen
Mikes passing thoughts Blog 